China punishes 8,123 for fiscal violations

China punished 8,123 people involved in fiscal violations after an audit of the execution of the 2016 central budget and other fiscal matters, the top auditor said Saturday.

Hu Zejun, head of the National Audit Office, made the statement while briefing lawmakers on rectification following the audit.

Among those on the list, 970 were punished for inappropriate use of poverty relief funds, Hu said.

Poverty relief funds involved were close to 3.3 billion yuan (500 million U.S. dollars), according to the report.

Around 100,000 people have been removed from the government list of registered poor, while another 95,000 have been added to the list.

In addition, 1,363 were punished for irregularities in the use of affordable housing funds, Hu said.

About 48 billion yuan of the funds, originally earmarked for affordable housing projects but left unused for more than a year, have been put into use, while another 1.37 billion yuan of misused funds were recovered.

Hu noted violations led to the punishment of 800 people in state-owned enterprises and 73 people in eight major banks.

Another 505 people were punished for malpractice involving medical insurance funds.

The report was submitted to the ongoing bi-monthly session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee for deliberation. The session will end Wednesday.